Video

Underwater Life on the Reef at Grayton Beach

This movie is a departure from my usual Chicken Coop artificial reef movies recorded in the Grayton Beach area. The Chunk Gully is a large area of natural bottom consisting of corals, sponges and other reef organisms covering an exposed limestone base a short distance from the beach.

I discovered this specific area of the Chunk Gully in 2013 and enjoyed some spectacular bottom fishing for grouper and red snapper on it. Wondering what the bottom looked like, I recently dropped my homemade GoPro underwater rig on the reef for a movie we could all enjoy.

The fish are red snapper, black snapper, gag grouper, scamps, trigger fish. and a school of top hat drum at the end. The end shot was one of my luck shots that must have been with the divine help of my adjuster, who seem to be enjoying my underwater movie making.

Now, I must say that some of my best camera shots are often luck shots. The first scene ends with me trying to get my camera out of a hole and capture a cameo of a tiny squirrel fish …beautifully framed. At the end of the second scene the camera focuses on a school of immature Top Hat Drum (luck) just before I pull the camera back to the surface.

Remember, I never know what the camera is seeing as I pull it through the water…and occasionally stop for a static shot. “Adjusters” are thought to be one’s guardian angel and everyone has one… or so it is said. Mine has been guiding me for decades.